The Pentagon’s plan to double the size of Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County will add thousands of new commuters to already congested roads and places an unfair burden on state and local governments, a new study [pdf] has found.

"The process that the Pentagon has used is not fair and not appropriate," said Senator Warner, who requested the study. "Now you've got an independent validator saying to the Pentagon that this doesn't make sense. We're going to try to use this to make the case that there has to be federal responsibility."

Senator Warner’s amendment to a defense spending bill directed the National Academy of Sciences to conduct the study of the Pentagon’s Defense Access Roads (DAR) Program. The NSF evaluated the merits of the DAR program and offered suggestions to how Congress and the U.S. Department of Defense could amend the program to make it more helpful in addressing the defense-related transportation impacts on our military bases.  

The Fort Belvoir area is one example: growth due to the 2005 BRAC round will severely impact the area by adding up to 46,000 more commuters to the already congest I-95 corridor each day. Marine Corps Base Quantico will receive nearly 3,000 additional military and civilian employees. Fort Lee, south of Richmond, will see its average daily population more than double – from 4,100 people a day to more than 11,000 in 2011.

“Better coordination on these issues and stronger partnerships with the surrounding communities could go a long way in helping to maintain the quality of life of our residents, business owners and commuters, and we look forward to working with the Defense Department to determine how we can improve these outdated regulations,” Senator Warner said. Read reactions from other members of the region’s congressional delegation here.